New BMW M3! Plus £1,500 cheap car challenge and where have all the convertibles gone? | TGS

New BMW M3! Plus £1,500 cheap car challenge and where have all the convertibles gone? | TGS The Gassing Station · Jun 30, 2026

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Place

Le Mans

A famous race track in France where drivers compete in a grueling 24-hour race to see who can drive the furthest distance.

Place

Nürburgring

A massive, incredibly challenging race track in Germany that car companies use to test how fast and well-handling their new cars are.

Car

Aston Martin Valkyrie

An extremely rare, multi-million dollar hypercar designed with Formula 1 technology and powered by an incredibly loud, high-pitched V12 engine.

Car

Lancia Delta S4

A famous 1980s rally race car that used both a supercharger and a turbocharger to make extreme amounts of power, built before rally rules were changed for safety.

Car

BMW Vision Neue Klasse

A futuristic concept car that shows what BMW's upcoming electric cars and sedans will look and feel like in the near future.

Car

BMW M3

A high-performance version of BMW's popular 3 Series sedan, designed to be incredibly fast on a race track while still being practical enough for daily driving.

Car

BMW i3

The BMW i3 is an all-electric car. While it used to be a small, futuristic hatchback, BMW is redesigning it as a modern electric sedan using their newest technology.

Car

Neue Classe

Neue Klasse is the name for BMW's newest family of electric cars. It represents a fresh start for the company, focusing on advanced battery technology and modern, simple designs.

Car

Audi RS5

The Audi RS5 is a sporty, high-performance version of Audi's luxury coupe. It has a powerful engine and all-wheel drive, making it fast and stable in all kinds of weather.

Car

Bmw M

The BMW M Coupe is a unique, two-door sports car from the late 1990s and early 2000s that looks like a small station wagon. It is famous for its unusual shape and its high-performance engine.

Car

The 430 Scuderia is a special, lighter, and faster version of a mid-2000s Ferrari sports car. It was built specifically to perform well on race tracks while still being legal to drive on public roads.

Car

Ferrari LaFerrari

The LaFerrari is an extremely rare and expensive hybrid supercar made by the Italian company Ferrari. It uses both a powerful gas engine and an electric motor to go incredibly fast.

Person

Frank van Meel

The big boss in charge of BMW's "M" division, which is the special group that designs their fastest and most sporty cars.

Part

BMW S58

A highly respected, very powerful six-cylinder engine built by BMW for their fastest sports cars.

Term

WLTP

A standardized test used by governments to measure how fuel-efficient a car is or how far an electric car can drive on a single charge.

Car

BMW M2

The BMW M2 is a small, two-door luxury sports car built for high performance and fast driving. It is the smallest and most agile of BMW's dedicated 'M' performance cars.

Car

BMW F36

The BMW 4 Series is a luxury car that comes as a two-door coupe, a convertible, or a sleek four-door hatchback. It is designed to be a sportier and more stylish alternative to the standard BMW 3 Series sedan.

Car

Hyundai Ioniq 5N

Car

BMW M5

The BMW M5 is a high-performance, sporty version of BMW's mid-sized luxury sedan. It is designed to offer the comfort of a luxury family car combined with the speed and handling of a race car.

Car

iX3 (G08)

The BMW iX3 is an electric version of BMW's popular mid-sized SUV, the X3. It looks and feels like a normal luxury family SUV but runs entirely on battery power.

Car

Porsche Cayman

The Porsche Cayman is a small, two-door sports car made by the German company Porsche. It has its engine in the middle of the car, which helps it balance well and handle corners very smoothly.

Car

Toyota GR Yaris

A tiny, rally-inspired hatchback built by Toyota that is incredibly fast, features all-wheel drive, and is highly sought after by car enthusiasts.

Car

Mazda MX-5

A small, lightweight, two-door convertible sports car from Mazda that is famous for being incredibly fun to drive without costing a fortune.

Car

BMW Z3

A classic two-seat convertible sports car built by BMW in the late 1990s, known for its long hood and retro styling.

Car

C-Class C200

A comfortable, mid-sized luxury sedan built by Mercedes-Benz, popular for daily commuting and highway driving.

Car

Audi A4 Convertible

A four-seat convertible version of Audi's popular A4 sedan, designed for comfortable open-air cruising.

Car

SEAT León FR

A sporty, practical hatchback built in Spain using Volkswagen parts, known for being fun to drive and fuel-efficient.

Car

Ford Fiesta

The Ford Fiesta Active is a small hatchback car that has been styled to look a bit like an SUV. It sits slightly higher off the ground and has extra plastic trim to protect it from scratches.

Car

Dacia Duster

The Dacia Duster is a simple, affordable compact SUV. It is designed to be practical, reliable, and cheap to buy and run, without unnecessary luxury features.

Car

MG TF

A small, affordable British sports car with the engine placed in the middle of the car for better handling.

Car

Mercedes-Benz Cclass

The Mercedes-Benz C-Class is a compact luxury sedan made by the German manufacturer Mercedes-Benz. It is designed to be a comfortable, premium everyday car with upscale features.

Car

TVR Griffith 500

A wild, loud British sports car from the 1990s that has a massive V8 engine but no modern safety features like traction control, making it very exciting (and tricky) to drive.

Car

Pontiac GTO

The Pontiac GTO is a classic American car known for having a very powerful engine in a standard-sized body. It is famous for being one of the original 'muscle cars' designed for straight-line speed.

Car

Peugeot 206

The Peugeot 206 3-door is a small, budget-friendly French hatchback with two side doors and a rear hatchback door. It was very popular in Europe as an easy-to-drive city car.

Term

scuttle shake

The annoying vibrating or shaking feeling you get in a convertible when you drive over bumps, caused by the car not having a solid roof to keep the body stiff.

Car

Opel Astra

The Opel Astra is a common, practical family hatchback made by the German brand Opel. It is designed for everyday driving, offering a balance of comfort, space, and affordable running costs.

Car

Porsche 911 GT3 RS

A street-legal race car version of the famous Porsche 911, built with a massive rear wing and designed to go as fast as possible around a race track.

LIVE

Welcome back to The Gassing Station, the podcast that heads into the Pest and Heads forums

and completely cocks up the way it records podcasts. Sam Sheehan, you and the listeners

at home may have noticed that we missed a podcast recording a couple of weeks ago. And

why was that?

Well, very busy, cupboard Toyota hospitality, partly that, and technical issues with mics

and…

Yes, I can actually put up a picture of that now, if you're watching this on YouTube

or Spotify. We had quite possibly the most frantic Le Mans ever. The idea was that we

were going to record a podcast live at Le Mans and bring you updates from on the ground.

There was a lot of news stories over Le Mans that we were really eager to talk about. We're

going to do that live so that on the Tuesday following the race you'd have everything

up to date. But trying to find time for the two of us to meet up was extremely tricky

because you were with BMW and had a lot of people to talk to.

A lot of people to talk to and then I was completely force fed champagne for an evening.

Hard life. It was one of those weekends where I was like, this is quite jammy this.

To provide a bit of context, you were with BMW. I was with Toyota, which fortunately

were the two teams that were battling it out for the win. At the start it was all BMW.

We were like, wow, we're going to win, hence the champagne.

Hence the champagne. My champagne was after the race had finished. But Le Mans has sort

of turned into the unofficial second French motor show really, hasn't it? There's so

many manufacturers now. BMW had an announcement that we're going to get onto in a little

bit. Toyota, we were talking about loads of hydrogen stuff. Genesis showed the GT3, which

they were like, oh, that's a concept car. But a GT3 car has to be based on a production

car. So it makes you kind of go like, well, it looked pretty much the finished article,

not far off. So the GT concept that they showed last year, maybe it's going to happen. I wouldn't

be surprised. So before the race starts at 4pm on a Saturday, I was there from Thursday

evening. Friday, we had the Classic British Welcome. So that's our kind of Friday Sunday

service. Friday Sunday service. Our Friday service at Classic British Welcome. So all

the pHs that have come over to Le Mans, we meet up and it's just kind of like a amalgamation

of kind of the French squad that are there, the British squad. You see so many interesting

cars. And then the afternoon is basically taken up with interviews. Saturday morning

is taken up with interviews and talking to people and stuff, car launches. And so we

were going back and forth trying to find this time where we could meet up and do a podcast.

I had then an interview just after the race started. And by the time they came out, I

don't think we're going to be able to do this. And then I found out the following morning

that you then used your time very wisely after that to just enjoy the champagne.

Well, yeah, beer's champagne. And when we did our original recording, which RIP to the recording,

but I mentioned that I won't name any names, but there were some motoring journalists and

PRs who are all brilliant who joined me on that wonderful journey of increasing blurred vision.

And it was great fun. And what a place to do it, though. I mean, it's not our first

times at Le Mans, but for those who haven't been, it is a spectacle and a half, not least because

the, you know, you've got so many things to do around the track. Obviously, the circuit itself

is cool. I think maybe we're both in agreement that the circuit itself isn't as spectacular as

somewhere like the Nurburgring just for obvious reasons. It looks more like a track.

Nothing beats the Nurburgring as a circuit. It's just in the forest. It's a roller coaster.

Yeah, exactly. And there's a cliche, but you're right. It's that kind of like,

the cool thing about the Nurburgring is you, I remember going to Carousel for the first time

in 2019, which you and I were both on without it. And, you know, you're kind of going through the

campsite and there's not, there's kind of, you can't really, you can hear some cars,

but you can't really see anything. And then all of a sudden it's like, bam, you're in this

festival like atmosphere and bam, there are the cars and you're just in the middle of the woods.

Yeah. Whereas Le Mans feels like a Grand Prix circuit. It does.

Yeah. Or doesn't it, but is a lot bigger. But I love the layout of Le Mans. I think it's got a,

having only driven it on Sims, it has a beautiful flow to it. Even though there's a lot of it is

straight. It's such a lovely tractor to virtually drive.

Having now cycled it, because I cycled it on the first day I got there with some of the guys

in the BMW group. And it's a lot hillier then because I'd also had played on video games

and obviously watch the on boards. You don't notice the hills so much in, on TV or even on the

video game. It is quite hilly. I can confirm. And it was a really hot day as well. So we were

pedaling up some of the inclines. It's not a Rouge hilly, but it was just kind of consistently

the uphill or downhill. So you don't notice how much work these cars are doing. And obviously,

the fuel usage will be higher because of that. So it looks like a flat circuit versus the ring,

but there's a bit more to it. There's a bit more undulation, certainly some cambers.

And it's a lot bigger. The gaps between the corners, obviously a Le Mans car shrinks them

massively. But you realize, oh, wow, that straight is obviously the Mulsanne is very long. We know

that. But all the other ones as well, pretty long. I can imagine the that kind of the big

incline, all I've done, I've been to pretty much every spot on the track bar, maybe the Porsche

curves. Yeah. And the so the big incline I can think of is the run up to what has always been

the Dunlop Bridge is now the good year bridge. Nothing against good year. It's just that, you

know, historically, what has been the Dunlop Bridge for decades and decades and decades.

But but anyway, so that is a really, really steep hill. Yeah, it is mostly because that's

also been where the last few years I've been with Alpine, they've been based near the top of that

hill. Yeah. And so you get into the bottom and you're like, so when once you're up there, you're

like, I'm not leaving. Yeah. Whereas we were now closer to the Ford Chican because our two so with

Toyota and BMW, they were relatively close to each other at the Porsche at the Ford Chican,

really good spot as well. The Valkyrie sounded unbelievable there because you kind of need

I'm a big, big, big Cadillac fan. And when you hear them coming, it's like, whoa.

Yeah, such contrast. It's such thunder. And to me, they sound a bit like the Valkyrie and the

Cadillac, this is a really nerdy reference. It's a bit like the Anakin Skywalker versus

Subolba pod racing scene from episode one of where they've kind of got like the

Anakin's pod uses a Ferrari F1 engine as a soundtrack to it. So if you hear it, it's a,

yeah, I believe it's a Ferrari V12 that's been dialed down. Yeah. So you can hear he's got gear

shifts. So as he's going through, he's got gear shifts. Whereas the Subolba pod, I don't know

what it uses, but it's got this like really deep base CV8. And so when you hear the Valkyrie and

the Cadillacs come along, it kind of sounds like pod races. But the Valkyrie, you have to be kind

of ass end to really hear it. It's quite quiet on entry. But on throttle, going up the straight is

just heaven. Yeah. When you're at exhaust high or close to it and yeah, exhaust angle, yeah,

it's really loud. And I don't think they rev it as high at Le Mans because of the longevity,

obviously. So it obviously sounds amazing there. So I've not actually heard it at the circus. It

must be even presumably if they run it higher or even if they only run it higher for showing off

on test days or something. I don't know. I think in the World Endurance Championship, they have to,

it's got silences and a rev limit because they can only produce X amount of horsepower,

of course, like 650 or something like that. So they can't, whereas the real Valkyrie revs up to

what, 10, 12,000 RPM? Hugely high and produces a ridiculous amount of power. So it's reduced in

that sense. But the AMR Pro, which is the track only one, that's one I'd love to witness in real

life because it sounds on videos like a 90s F1 car. Straight through pipes, that kind of stuff.

So spectacular. Noises are great. Terrible for recording podcasts. So we were like, we were

trying to make it happen. And then on the Sunday morning, it was like, we can do it.

As I left the hotel, I don't know how someone has dogged you in and was saying,

I've heard Sam's in quite bad shape. And he had a, really made the most of BMW's

success on the Saturday. And I was like, Oh boy. So he got to the circuit and you, you were like,

Oh, sorry, not feeling that great. I might be running just a little bit late. And then you

turned up on a bicycle looking as fresh as anything. Well, I don't know how you do it because I would

have been dead. No, I mean, I'd felt, I have felt worse in my life, but we can get sidetracked.

That'll be a whole pod in itself. The mistakes I've made on nights out. Well, yeah, I mean,

you're clearly on the no alcoholics because you were, you were in fine, in fine form. We recorded

a podcast in Toyota's, the hospitality's club room. Yeah. And bless them. Toyota got

above and beyond to try and get flags in the background and make it look as good as we could

possibly get it. You could still hear the cars so loudly from inside that cupboard.

We did an amazing job to isolate the audio and then audio corrupted. So I'm really sorry for

missing a week. And then after that, we've just done a podcast at Gerardo and Co, which was a lot

of fun just announcing the new 98 collective, which is our new exclusive club that you can be a part

of. If you buy and sell on piston heads auctions, but also if you've been with piston heads since

the very beginning, we're also kind of inviting some of our really old-time members to come and

join in too. And so we've got some really cool little events, smaller, more concentrated events

lined up. So we had a good look through the Gerardo HQ. Dude, you missed out on that big time

because it was epic. I got to sit in a Delta S4 rally car. Yeah. Maybe jealous, why don't you?

And I cannot, it's one of my all-time legendary, you know, goosebumps walking up to it and getting

inside the doors like a shed door. Yeah, of course, lightweight. The roll over, the roll cage

is literally like guttering. So you can do nothing to it. Yeah. There's no ding. It's just, it just

sounds like plastic. There's nothing to it whatsoever. And that was one of the stronger cars.

Well, I've heard rumors that it was, I've heard rumors that they actually filled the

roll cage with a gas. Yeah. I can't remember what it was. Change of the picture. Is it nitrogen?

No, it's to make it lighter because it was, they were like, if you could put... That's

correct me if I might have got it wrong. I think it was maybe nitrogen to make it

lighter, which obviously is highly combustible. Yes. And so it was sitting inside of it was

awesome and genuinely terrifying without even moving it because it feels like you're in,

for lack of a better word, a coffin. Yeah. Well, the priority was on winning,

not keeping anyone safe, wasn't it? Yeah. Absolutely. So really, really quite a terrifying

thing, but so-called great to be there. And we felt very welcome.

One of the big stories that we should really cover from Le Mans that I think is going to be,

it's going to be big right until the car's announced is the new BMW M-Concept. Yeah.

Is that what it's called? M-Concept Neuerklasse. That's it. Yeah. And obviously, unofficially,

it's kind of M3 preview. Yes. Yeah. So this is super highly anticipated because there's been a

lot of ambiguity about what the next M3 is going to be. Because for the longest time,

all of the test and prototype cars have been electric. And we've been going,

this is going to be an electric car moving forward. I don't think that's necessarily going

to be the case. We'll get onto that in a little bit. But first of all, if this is what is previewing

the next M3, it looks good. It does. Although the response on social media in particular has been

very split. And actually, I would say more negative, although that could just be because

social media tends to push the negative stuff to the top. So it might be a bit of that.

Engagement, isn't it? Yeah. That tends to get, if you go, this looks great. And other people agree,

they're not going to come. Yeah. In the meta, it looked way better than it looks on your phone

or on your laptop screen. Because you just lose the proportions. I mean, that to be fair,

the rendering you're looking at, that's on the PH side, it looks pretty good.

But some of the pictures I've seen, I don't know, people have done like wide lenses on their iPhones

and stuff. And it's kind of ruined the proportions. People are saying it looks like a roadblocks car.

But actually, in the metal, the stance is really what wins you over. You're like,

this has an awesome stance. Obviously, the exterior design, it looks like it's previewing

only an EV. But the interesting thing is it's not, it's previewing the petrol one as well,

because they will look identical give or take. I mean, there should be no major difference,

even in terms of intakes and vents between petrol and electric.

So just to describe what this looks like, if you have seen the new i3 Neue Classe,

which I think is a really smart looking thing, it's essentially that with extremely blistered

arches, I mean, M3s and M4s have always had blistered arches. But this thing is on another level.

It's up there with the new RS5, which again, is a properly hunkered thing. It looks

astonishing in that sense. The other thing that really stands out to me is it's when the last

M4 or the current M4 and M3 came out. I don't know if you remember this, but it was quite

controversial for the way it looked. Was it? And divisive. Who would have thought?

People wouldn't like the grills. You see a lot of people now going,

oh, I'll get the same. Yeah, I thought they were hideous. And still think it. There's a lot of

people that are like, oh, it's amazing how we've all come round to the new M3. And it's just like,

no, I still think it looks pig ugly, except the M3 touring. I think it sort of works.

It fits because the body kind of takes away some of the weight from the nose, doesn't it?

Yeah. I don't hate, I'm not saying I like it because I don't like it, but it's kind of like,

it no longer makes my eyes bleed. It's just I'm kind of like, I'm used to it. I guess that's true

for anything, right? It's normalization, hypernormalization is the term, isn't it? I guess I've been

hypernormalized to the design, but it's not pretty. And you look at a previous gen car of any of all

of the previous series, you're like, that was way nicer. Oh, 100%.

100%. This is much better. I think one of the challenges that, or one of the reasons why BMW

did it is because they were saying, especially with the F80 generation, they were going us,

the cars are a bit dull. They're kind of like, they're looking, they look cool,

but they're just a bit understated. We want to be a bit punchier. So they went,

here's this radical look and everyone went, oh, you've got way too far.

They want to be punched in the face myself when I look at it.

This for me looks like a BMW has got such a striking look to it, but

doesn't have that offensive. I think it can be understated, it's not the right word, but

tidy. Well, yeah, it doesn't have any massive feet. I mean, the intakes on the

bumper look big, but generally it's quite, it doesn't have any ridiculously oversized features.

It's just got a combined, prominent, you know, big amount of road presence about it. And as I said,

the stance on the concept, obviously concepts to road cars, like it does change. And so you

wouldn't be able to, the arch gap might grow a little bit and it might not have so much camber

and things like that. But generally it looks like they've nailed the stance and BMW typically

concept to production car doesn't change that much. So it's true. It should be pretty closest.

And certainly when I spoke to, because I spoke to Van Neil, is it Van Neil or Van

Neil? I've forgotten already Van Neil, isn't it? Mr. BMW M Boss and Boss of Design as well,

Oliver. And they were telling me, you know, this is the car. This is the production car,

petrol and electric. If that's, yes. So if that is the case, then I think we're in for a real

treat. Just to go over for people who can't see it on our Spotify or YouTube, the kind of the

front intakes are really quite staggering. They're looking a little bit like the intake

off a Ferrari 430 Scuderia. That is a reference. But just kind of stretched. And then you've got

a thin pillar in the middle that joins to a splitter that's not dissimilar to a LaFerrari.

Yeah, yeah. I see that. I definitely see the LaFerrari in particular,

actually. Yeah. And then the rear is a, it has a diffuser that's a relatively shallow and flat

one. But above it, it has two absolutely ginormous exit channels, Venturi tunnels.

I don't know what they are, but it is bonkers. Yeah, it really is. And in the metal, honestly,

if you've seen it and you thought, nah, it really does look so good in the metal with those features.

And because they're low down as well. And then the top of the car is quite subtle in other areas.

Yeah, absolutely. Just really adds to muscle. I'm a big fan. So obviously this design,

I think with all these channels, it does look very EV, but as you say, there's two power trains.

So let's start off with the electric one first, because it is going to be the I3M,

as we're probably expecting it to be. What numbers are we talking about?

Well, that just go back on the name. That is exactly what I asked CEO M division,

who's Frank Van Miel. Sorry, I said Van Miel earlier because I'm thinking of another person

called Van Miel. Van Miel, definitely. He actually said to me when I asked him, I said,

okay, so how's the petrol car going to change? Because obviously it's going to have a different

design. You can have a different name. And he was like, undecided to be confirmed. But we think

that both petrol and electric will be called M3. And they will only be, they might not have

any kind of visual differentiation in the badge on the boot, for example. Maybe it will say M3.

You know, the same way, I think, I don't know if BMW does it, but Mercedes certainly do it,

where they'll have two models. And then it will just say like, in smaller lowercase electric,

or, you know, petrol or whatever. So they could just both be called the M3.

Which I think is good, because it's trying to emphasize that this is a proper M3. It's not

something off that like lineage. And design wise, expected to be exactly the same. I mean,

intakes on the, you know, because the electric car is going to have four motors. So one on each

wheel, which means there's a lot of stuff to call. Therefore, it will probably need a lot of intakes.

Typically, obviously EVs have fewer intakes, but this car will have a lot of stuff to call. So

it will probably need all of the openings that the petrol car has. And obviously, the layout with

four electric motors, you might think this is going to be a very all-wheel-drive feeling car.

But actually, the team were saying it's going to be a rear-drive car at heart. I mean, you know,

that's the marketing talk. But the way that they backed that in a more technical sense was they

said the front motors will only be there really, to give you the straight line performance off

the line, but also just to make the car a little bit more manageable, because it's going to have,

you know, over 700 horsepower probably. And the torque figure is going to be monstrous as well.

So there's a lot of performance to manage. And so front axle won't be driving anywhere near as hard.

And they said, actually, in some drive modes, it will be basically rear-wheel-drive. There's going

to be a drift mode, for example, where I presume it will be 100% rear axle performance. So for those

worried, oh, this is going to be a slightly numbed, albeit very quick M3, they're promising that it

won't be. In fact, they're saying this will be considerably quicker, not just in a straight

line, but also around the lap than the petrol car. And interestingly, for longer, not necessarily in

terms of range, but in terms of its ability to manage brake temperatures and tire temps, because

apparently brake temps will be managed because the regen is going to be really strong and powerful.

So they won't, they've actually suggested they might have smaller brake discs on the electric one,

although didn't confirm that. But they were like, it's something we're thinking about,

because they're clearly still quite early in the development. So it could have a smaller

brake discs to help a little bit with unsprung mass, although obviously, you know, car's going

to be way heavier than the petrol one. And it will probably be a little bit kinder to its rear tires,

because the front axle will be helping a little bit, mostly, obviously, unless he's put it into

drift mode. So it might not be as boring compared to the petrol one as you might have expected.

They're basically saying this is going to be the more exciting car to drive, barring the fact it

doesn't make a true sound. I think that's the way that they're, this is the really interesting

way that they've approached it, because they've gone, if you want full on speed performance,

pin you to the back of your seat feel, the electric one is going to be the one that covers that.

But if you're more PHE, then it's the other one that's going to appeal. So what have they done?

What's the deal with this combustion version? Is it, please don't tell me it's a super watered down

version that they've just gone? Here's a combustion engine, but it's basically just a 3-speed.

Yeah, so they've gone for a 1.53 pot. No, no, no, they haven't. They've kept the S58,

which has just recently been refreshed for Euro 7, which obviously means a lot more WLTP,

but they've done what they always do, these brands where they've, I think they've actually

upped the power a bit at the very least they've kept it. And obviously for this car, they're

we wanting to raise that again. So expect, you know, G80 M3 beating performance with a new version

of that S58. I'm very familiar with that because that's also in the M2 CS and it is an amazing

engine, the M2 CS that I drove to Le Mans. Wow, what a motor, you know, it feels motorsport and

yet is so refined and quiet on the motorway, if you want it to be, or extreme and explosive at

high revs and muscular mid-range. So that in this, yeah, I know the electric will be quicker,

but it's going to be something spectacular because the way this looks with that motor,

that's going to be amazing. It will be rear drive and it's going to obviously be, I mean,

they did, I did ask them about manual, by the way, and they didn't say no, but I think it's

one of those things where it might be because they've just done a hand shelter M3 for the US

market. They have. I think it would be possibly at best the same sort of thing again. I think

Europeans and in particular the UK, we wouldn't get a manual. You never know. And they certainly

said they want to, but it obviously it needs to make sense on the bank balance. I wonder if it is

is it a customer demand sort of thing or is it an emissions sort of thing? Because I think it's

harder to get a manual through emissions, is it not? I think it's all of those. And also,

they did mention that the supplies for manual gearbox components is just becoming less and less.

So various, various things, which are all relate to cost, obviously. So the good thing is, is that

the auto boxes in the current G80 generation of M3 and 4 is extremely good. Yeah, they've

massively improved all of the way it feels. The shift paddles are much better now as well.

Yeah, just much nicer to use. Hopefully they won't get that I didn't ask them this,

but hopefully you won't get the ridiculous, fluffy, massive steering wheels, which feel

like you're holding a steering wheel wrapped in a towel. Well, I'm looking at the interior

pictures here, and it does look quite chubby still. It does look quite chubby. Yeah. So,

I mean, for reference, they've got the IVX3. Yeah, that's what it's called, right? The SUV

crossover, the Neuer class of one. Yeah, that's the one with the with the T shaped wheel where

you've got a pillar at the top and the bottom, which I don't like. Yeah, I think it looks crap.

And I think it feels weird. Did I say T shape? I meant cross cross. Yeah,

cross it. Lots of people love it. So I'm I know I'm against a lot of the I'm swimming

against the stream with this one, but I didn't like it. It forces you to it hold

the wheel in a very specific place. And outside of that, it feels weird. This one, however,

is a little a little more conventional. It doesn't have it adopts some of that design,

but it doesn't have the pillar at the top of the wheel. But it does still look a bit

chunky around the grip. Yeah, I just don't understand the design of the wheel. Like they've

BMW used to do really lovely wheels. So I don't understand why they've just been that off. They

were really good at that. I mean, your car's got a nice wheel. Yes, my F 36 435. I understand

the lovely, lovely grip. I understand it would have to be updated for a cut because it would

probably look about a place in this your your wheel in this car would look a bit like a 25 year

old wearing a grandad hat or something. So it'll be a very nice M&S one. But the steering wheel,

yeah, I just think the grips are too big, but the steering wheel having no central bit on the

middle is probably good for if you're going to do skids and drift mode on track, because then you

won't be grabbing the wrong, you know, arm. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, but it's got what looks like buttons.

I mean, this is, you know, take it with a pinch of salt because it's still a concept. So it's

not the final design, but it looks pretty damn, you know, when I saw the Neuer class for the first

time, it was like, oh, this is this looks great. But it was, you know, the interior was like super

proper space age, whereas this feels a lot more realistic because it's got some buttons on the

wheel. It's got some buttons on the wheel. It's got a normal kind of tablet display dash. Yeah,

it looks good. I mean, there's a lot. There's a lot to like here, especially if they're doing this,

you know, petrol version. Do we have any idea about what the power of the petrol version might be?

They didn't give a figure, but they did say that they'd be pushing it beyond. So what

about 510? I think nudging 600, I guess, but the electric one will be over 700 almost certainly.

They didn't give a figure again, but it's it's just like doing the maths and things.

It's going to be it's a lot more. So this is a direction I'm really liking and would

love the industry to take because I totally understand why manufacturers give us electric cars

is because they have to. Yeah. And there are some manufacturers that can afford to not give us EVs.

So Lamborghini, for instance, because it's technically classed as a small manufacturer,

because it produces fewer than 10,000 cars a year, it doesn't have to meet the same

fleet regulations that say a BMW or a Porsche or whatever have to. So when they came out recently

and said, we're not building an EV, it's because they can get away with it. Whereas BMW can't,

they have to bring those emissions down. And so they go, well, you know what,

here's a really good way of doing it of where there's genuine reason to buy one or the other.

If you want power, speed, everything goes as fast as you can, you don't really care about

the noise. No, get the EV version, which because that's what the EV strengths are.

EV strengths are punching you in the face with speed. Yeah. Well, and in this case,

all will drive torque vectoring stuff. 100%. So it's going to it is going to we know what it's

like with driven cars with crazy all drive torque vectoring stuff. It's stupidly unnecessarily

quick, but it's very impressive what they can do. Absolutely. Yeah, it's that kind of thing of where

it's all big on tech. It's a super high tech powertrain. It makes the most sense to join

those together. And that gives you the most extreme example. However, if it's if you just

want to drive it and enjoy it at 678 tenths, but will also make a great track car,

yeah, there's the petrol version. Yeah. Choice choices. Thank you. That's it. And they really

wanted to emphasize that just want to throw in a bit though about because you mentioned noise,

there obviously will be sounds and they have been talking about how to simulate them. And

those sounds will come with fake gear shifts. They have confirmed that. But as in paddle gear shifts

or or yes, exactly. Yeah, that you can control. Oh, okay. But and this was where it got a bit

ambiguous and I and I tried to press a little bit harder on detail, but they were I think I

don't know whether it's their undecided or whether they they just wanted to naturally this is going

to be a big talking point of the car. So I guess they wanted to hold it off a little bit. And I

was pushing really hard on so you're going to have these fake gear shifts and an engine sound.

Firstly, the engine sound has already been previewed to find the article if you're on

pH now on the website or whenever you're it's safe to do so. Go on to pH and see if you can find

the old story I did from the 15th of June. There is a video in that which gives you a preview of

the engine sound that the electric car will simulate. And the gear shifts I think are just

about you can just about hear the minute as well. But the key thing is, which I found a bit confusing

was that I said, well, so obviously you're going to simulate torque curves like the Ioniq 5n has

with your gear shifts. They were like, no, that's a disadvantage of combustion cars will give you

a flat torque curve, but there will be gears. So which I don't. Yeah, I'm trying to imagine

what that will feel like. And I think it would just feel like you coming driving a normal EV

flooring it, lifting the power flooring it, whereas with the 5n and 6n because you had that natural

feeling torque curve, it actually took away that kind of car sickness feeling and getting an EV.

It made it feel more, well, it felt like a combustion engine. That's a really interesting

point because one of the things that I found really took some getting used to when I drove the M5

is that when you shift, I've correct me if I'm wrong, but when you shift, you get a shove from

the hybrid system to cover up the torque dip. Yeah. And so you press on when you pull for another

gear. Yeah. And it's like, whoa. And it just, it kind of feels like you, it's like I didn't want you

to do, I didn't expect you to do that. Yeah. And it's interesting because at the, in Formula One,

the Monaco Grand Prix a few weeks back, Lance Stroll apparently had a similar issue of where he

went to go and shift it up and then turn in and the car pushed forward. So the hybrid system was

giving a shove and then he crashed into the wall because he was like, I wasn't expecting

the electric energy to give me a shove there. Yeah. So I'm wondering if it's going to be a

similar thing like this where when you pull for a gear, you have a, maybe an audible drop

and maybe a slight kick, but you'll get that pressure, that kind of feeling of like, bam,

kind of a shove forward. That's entirely possible. Yeah. I suppose it's to achieve that they'd have

to have the torque even with your foot to the floor slightly below its maximum potential to

give you the shove. I don't know exactly. So I sort of hypothesized, but with no actual official

wording on it, I just said perhaps it will just be an audible shift and there won't actually be

any break in the torque, which again, I'm not sure that would be very convincing. So you'd just

be shifting up, but not feeling anything. Or perhaps it's what you just suggested. Either way,

it doesn't seem like they're going down the path of the Ioniq 5N or 6N of trying to be really

accurate. The engine simulation sound, by the way, will be a combination of old BMW engine

sounds and then digitized. So straight six is V8 and obviously V10 as well. Oh, so that you can

choose. Oh, no, sorry. What I mean is it's all amalgamated together. Yeah. They, instead of just

going from, I presume what they've done is they've taken a lot of recordings from historic cars,

thrown them into a computer and then started to play with that and created a sound from that. So

in theory, it should be all, they will say it's authentic BMW, but obviously,

will be the judge of that. I'm interested to hear it because when they, the first electric BMW

I drove was the IX3 and they got Hans Zimmer to create the sound for that, which was very glitzy.

Yeah. It's kind of a bit dreamy and a bit, a bit odd. I'm not a fan of some of those sounds

they've done. Yeah, exactly. I mean, I'd be intrigued to hear it, but I also wouldn't mind it if they

went, if you want, here's the V12 LMR. I'd prefer that. The mom winner. Just hit that and be like,

like it's like when Renault did the, oh, and the Clio. Yeah, the little kind of sound effects. It was

a bit rubbish, but it was like, oh, you know, it's novelty. Yeah, it was GTR. I think it was

rubbish because it wasn't bang on nowadays. It would be, it wasn't bang on with your throttle

input and stuff. It was, it was slightly off because it was old tech, I guess they just didn't,

it wasn't perfect. But they would get that bang on now. As we've seen with the Ionik

5, 6N, it's so, it's, it's, it's so realistic that a passenger would potentially not know. They're

not in a combustion car. It's just exciting though. I'm really looking forward to it. It's the first

time I think I've seen an EV. Maybe it's because I know that a combustion version is coming along too,

that it's, it's just given me a glimmer of hope of like, if this is the way the industry is going,

I'm, I'm all for it. Same. If you've got the choice, exactly. If you've got the choice, don't, don't

assume everyone's going to, and I think it's, it's a, it's a mixture of them wanting to give

the choice and also seeing what Porsche or et cetera are up to right now going, oh God, we're

not going to be able to sell any electric boxes and Caymans. We need to keep petrol alive. I think

BMW, I don't doubt at one point this was going to be a fully electric car and they've now gone

right and thankfully for them fairly early in the development stage. Yeah, exactly. So yeah,

very exciting. I'm really intrigued to see what the production numbers will be as well because

looking at, so I've just been, we'll talk about this on a, on a later pod, just been driving the

in air quotes, new Toyota GI Yaris is in the one that launched a couple of years ago. It was an

Oji edition and you know, the general production run of that car was limited to just a couple of

thousand. Whereas the one before was at 20,000 and you know, sold far more than that because of

just keeping those emission, you know, emissions in check. I wonder if they're going to go,

have as many electric M3s as you want. And we're going to give you a hundred,

around it would be a hundred, a couple of thousand petrol versions, but it's got to make

it's got to make financial sense to adapt that platform to take a combustion engine. Yeah.

So here's hoping. Yeah. Here's hoping that they are readily available.

So that's the new M3. But what if you only have a budget of 1500 pounds to play with? Well,

that's the situation that I'm mostly in that we're all in. But I was going to say the pH is

named, but it annoys me because they've done this knowing that by saying this, we're going to be

bowing down to them. So this is from his lordship. And for this week's challenge, they say, it's

that time of year again, where I turn to my fellow pistonians, not heard of piston. I love that.

That's a good one. Yeah. It's like with his lordship, it's like subjects. Yeah. My piston. That's why

I love it. I've now a visual. He's like the guy out of Shrek. I know you exactly.

In search of some inspiration, I'm looking for a daily runabout and looking for ideas,

basic parameters, budget of a thousand pounds, wiggle room up to 1500 pounds, which is obviously

what we're going to take. We're wiggling small and basic, fairly cheap to tax and ensure in some way

fun in quotes, i.e. not a beige diesel ladder, happy to be hardtop or convertible. Working

AC would be nice, especially at the moment because it's the middle of a freaking hot heat wave.

Must be currently roadworthy with an MOT, but happy to look at something that needs TLC,

not too fast if cat n or s ideas that I've come up with, but are unlikely in budget is in Mazda

MX five and Z three. Yeah. I think you're going to struggle to we definitely couldn't find anything,

but I've been able to find some alternatives. Yeah. Something like a VW up city go, but not

sure how fun they would be. Yeah. A mate of mine, I say a mate of mine, my best mate had a VW up as

his sensible. He reached like 25 and went, I now have a career and I'm going to get a VW up and

he, I mean, it was a perfectly good car, but he was so bored after about six months that he

got rid of it and has never had a boring car ever again. So 1500 quid love these challenges

because it's really makes you, really makes you think and it does make you go like initially,

when you see it, you go, oh, that's not actually a lot to choose from. And then you really look

into it and you go, there's still so much car you can get. Yeah. For 1500 quid. Yeah. So Sam,

what did you find? Yeah, we are really lucky in the UK because we don't get the taxes. Do we

on used cars? So yeah, it's great. I've gone for two, actually I've gone for one sensible car.

I think it's still sensible, but it'd be a laugh. And then one that's a little bit more interesting,

well, in one way. First I've gone for, I'd smoke around in this. I've gone for a 2007

Mercedes C class. It's a C 200. So it's only 1800 CC, but got 163 horsepower. It's an auto. And

the reason I chose it was because it looks absolutely mint. It does. It's nothing special.

It's just a C class, but it's mint. Do you know what I love? Inside out. That looks absolutely

incredible. Yeah. So it's, it's in silver with a black leather interior, which I'm not sure anyone's

ever sat in. Well, here's the thing. It's got 132,000 miles, but it doesn't look like it's

covered 132,000 miles. It looks extremely good. Yeah. 12 months MOT provided comes with all the

extras. You know, it's good. I got a point out as it's an avant-garde. So avant-garde, even, but

yeah, avant-garde. I can't remember my old Mercedes trim levels, but I think avant-garde was

half decent. Yeah, I think so. And it's not sure if it was the posh, posh one, but it was

avant-garde SE suggests it's not. But I mean, it's, it's got everything. You look at the feed,

the extras, all the stuff that fitted to it, you know, power assisted steering. So I don't know

that's obvious. Sorry. I was reading it as if it was power assisted steering.

I was waiting for it to say steering wheel adjustment, but I've just like,

I'll know it's just got power steering. Skip that one. But it has got electric seats.

You know, it comes with decent CD player and all that kind of stuff. That's the best thing of

when you've got a car that's 1500 quid and you're like, I've really got to jazz this up and make it

seem like it's got a lot of, yeah. Well, climate control for 15,000 quid is not bad. It's really

good. But yes, power steering. It should be like working power steering. Yeah. Why is that in the

list? I was, I was very much expecting that to say power steer, you know, power assisted

electric steering wheel adjustment. No, it's got a power socket, metallic paint. Exactly. But it

has the climate control. So you got your AC, whether it works or not, I don't know. But look,

it's just heated mirrors, heated mirrors. It's mint. It's just, it's just, it looks, I mean,

you know, I'm not looking at it in technicolor 4k. That doesn't make any sense. But you know what

I mean? It just looks in great condition. Even the wheels and the number plates, which I always

think are a sign of somebody who cares about their car look to be in good condition. Amazing. And only

1,495 pounds. So you've got five pound spare. Exactly. Every penny helps this. Exactly. Yeah.

This end of the market. It hasn't had its Mercedes badge nicked off the bonnet as well,

which I know that happens a lot in the day. It used to happen a lot in the day.

Let's stick with the German stuff because I've gone for another one that I would smoke around in

because I think this would be great. Just get your mates, you know, for those weekends away

and you think, no, I'll drive us guys. Don't worry. Drop the roof Audi A4. It's a 1.8T,

2005. So same era. Also silver on silver and as far as wheels and bodywork are concerned,

with black leather interior. But again, mint. I mean, 134,000 miles, the same kind of mileage.

You know, that 1800 turbo motor is good. They used it in multiple models. It was in the TT,

wasn't it as well? I like that the ads been written with AI because it's made me laugh.

Because the line with an impressive Eulez compliance is impressive. I think maybe

that should be a line for cars that you think wouldn't be Eulez, but they are like, oh, that's

impressive. You know, like an old, I don't know, early noughties diesel. You go, well, that is

Eulez compliant. That is impressive. I'm not sure if we mentioned that it was convertible,

but it is a it's a drop top. So I mean, we're in the middle of summer at the time of recording.

So good time to have a convertible. We're going to get on to that a little bit on our last topic.

There's nothing like going topless with your mates, honestly. So it's good.

It's so much fun. We should all do it. And it's got, you know, this being an Audi,

you've got a CD changer, by the way, in this so you can get loads of CDs in there.

And can we just talk about this 2005 car? Fantastic era for Audi design.

And look at that interior. The interior is just, it's that perfect,

yeah, kind of like it's the last of that kind of nineties, early noughties generation of Audi

interior design. It's very round. It's very efficient. It's tiny. It just looks tidy and clean.

Love it. That steering wheel is perfect. It's a great steering wheel, simple steering wheel,

lovely. And, you know, and it's a manual as well, which was, I'm assuming they did a few

autos of these as well. So it's going to be nice. Yeah, it's going to be a nice car to drive,

fairly fuel efficient. I honest, I genuinely just as like, if I had space for six or seven cars,

I'd just smoke around in one of these just for 165 horsepower. Why not? Very good.

My next car, I've just seen the mileage on it as well, bloody hell.

It's experience. Yes, experience. But it is, it is a diesel. But there was no preference,

even though the other one had an impressive Eulez compliance. There's no mention from his

Lordship that we need Eulez. So diesel it is for my Seat Leon. It's a two litre TDI FR. The reason

I've chosen it is because it's a 168 brake horsepower car. So it's a warm hatch. Yep. And

it's going to be very fuel efficient. I think these are torquey. And I like the look of these.

They had touring car racing versions of this, didn't they? Absolutely. I think they look really

good. Silver mirrors, you know, black, black exterior, smart car. 2006. So this would have

been, these were based on Golfs, were they not? Yeah. Yeah, I think it was based on a Golf.

And I'm pretty sure these motors were pretty, pretty solid. I think all of Eastern Europe runs

on these engines, doesn't it? Yes, exactly. These were ubiquitous at one point. They were

absolutely everywhere. And these diesel ones as well were tuned. I think they were quite easy

to get quite a bit of power out of. I've seen, I've seen quite a few with with dirty bottoms.

Yes. But this one is, it looks extremely clean for 220,000 miles. I was just about to say,

but the mileage is high. And I wonder how that's done. But also, just to counterpoint on that,

Sam, because it's a diesel, you sort of want that because that kind of clears the particular

filters, keeps it going. True, true. A diesel with higher mileage is not necessarily a bad thing.

Yeah. In terms of engine, I don't doubt it's actually pretty solid. It's just,

probably got to have a look underneath and see what, but yeah, probably a little tight.

And it does look a little bit like whoever's been sticky inside. Yeah. It looks like some

of the lacquer is starting to go. So maybe this is the one mentioned. They don't mind

having colonies a bit of TLC. This is going to need at least some cosmetic inside,

but you've got wiggle room on the budget there because it's 1295 quid. Yeah. So spend a couple

hundred quids, bring the interior up. And I think you'll be all right. I think they look good. I

know it's a diesel, but you know, okay. It's a good selection there. It's a good selection.

But I think I can do better. So for my first one, I don't know which one to start off with,

but I'm going to go with this. I'm going to go with this. It's a car that's close to my heart.

Close to your heart. Yes. But you know, it's the lesser version of mine. It is a 2008. So right

at the end of its production line, Ford Fiesta 1.6 Z-TEC S 30th anniversary edition.

Blimey. That's a long name. Yes, precisely. They only built not many of them. I haven't got

proper production run here, but this one is number 883. And bearing in mind, they sold

billions of these. Yes. And a lot of them are still going because they're so fantastically

reliable. It's a rare spec of car. It looks fantastic. The Z-TEC gets the body kit of the

ST. Yes. This one's in red. So it's got that really lovely front end with that quite aggressive

grille. It's got the faux diffuser at the back that is very light gray from what I can only

assume is a little bit of sun exposure. A bit of G-Technique on that. Oh yeah. Just a wee bit.

But I love the Z-TEC wheels. They are really lovely. I think they are. So the ST has 17s,

which are massive on that little size of car. I believe these are 16s. They do look a bit small,

but they are going to ride so nicely. And they give me slight speed line vibes.

Yeah. I don't think they look small, actually, funnily enough. I guess because your eyes are

normal eyes. You've seen your sevens. I'm used to them. I think they look all right. I would almost

say on your car, you could run your winter wheels as a Z-TEC 16. I've seen people use run 15s on

them. That might look a bit small. They do look absolutely tiny, but they're meant to be fantastic

for track work. So it's 111,000 miles, but I assure you, that's absolutely fine. Mine's on

145,000. Yeah. And aside from having a broken coil spring, so it's not being driven at the moment,

and completely shot dampers bushes. Right. And likely shot engine mounts.

Yes. And some cosmetic problems. And a little bit of rust in some places.

It's absolutely fine. Other than that, it's completely fine. It's completely fine.

So yeah, so that's £1,495. I really like that. It's so cool. And it's red, which is very racy.

Yes. Fantastic input there, Sam. Thank you. And it's not gone pink.

Marvelous chassis as well. Anyway, let's move on. My second one is a little more unconventional.

Oh, this is contrasting. But I saw it and I was like, oh my God, this is a great spec. Does it have

air conditioning though? Because it's, okay, it doesn't advertise air conditioning. It advertises

every circulation. Right. That's like my power steering. Yep. And it's also got anti-lock brakes.

That's good. And, and airbags. So it was made after the year 1996. Yes. But you wouldn't know it

because it is a 2013 Dacia Duster. Lovely. Good cars. It's a petrol. It's a manual. It's in white

with steelies. What we've got here, Sam, is a, probably shouldn't say the word because it might

offend some people. I'll call it a budget spec. Yeah. Dacia Duster, which you, you seldom see in

the UK. Yeah. Because I don't think they sell the plucky bumpers. No. Steel wheelie dusters or

dashes. Yeah. It's like Skoda and Dacia have both accidentally become not budget for their two

group, for their two owners. So yeah, Dacia now, you look at the interior of a Dacia, you're like,

oh, that's just got Renault stuff in it. Exactly. Yeah. So I drove, so my boss, our marketing manager,

Ben Loudon, had a Dacia Duster. Oh, yes, he did. One of the newer ones. But that was spec'd up,

wasn't it? Oh, yeah. I mean, I mean, it was, it was actually quite nice inside. I drove a very

similar spec one down to Le Mans several years back. Really very nice. Very, very pleasant.

I'm looking at the inside of this one and it is, it's like the whole interior is a single mold

rubber. It's like someone melted down a wheelie bin and made it into that shape. Yes. That is

plastic. It's, it's, it is plastic. It's, it's extremely basic, but isn't that the whole point

of a Dacia? Yes. And you could drive this. Don't worry about it. Into things, over things,

potentially under things, and it would be fine. It's solid. Is it a wheel drive?

It's, I don't believe so. I think they're front wheel drive. Just an urban hack. Especially at this,

this price. So it's 1500 quid bang on, 110,000 miles. But worth bearing in mind,

a fresh MOT and it's cam belt recently replaced. That's good. So you know, that's ready to

rock and roll. It's ready for another 110,000 miles of abuse. Yeah. So I love that. I don't

really think it's what they're after though, especially as it doesn't have air, but it does

have air. It's got some vents. But I, a car that I think ticks a lot of boxes. Oh, how do you find

one of these in budget? I know. Well, I mean, it's, it's not the, oh, it needs, he said he's happy

for some work. Yes, about it. He's happy for a little bit of work. And I think these are becoming

more desirable. I think they look great. I think they look fantastic. If you can't tell what it

is from what we've been talking about, it is an MGTF from 2003 in blue. And it's, it's got 98,000

miles. So I think this is the lowest mileage car of all of them. Oh yeah. 98,000 miles is crazy,

though. Yeah. 134 horsepower from the 1.8, 1.8 liter engine. I know they wanted an MX-5,

but I couldn't find any in budget. Yeah. I know they wanted a Z3. Z3 is a, you know,

I remember when people hated the Z3 and they've had a real resurgence. I think the design,

they've come back, it's that classic, like they've become, you know, retro almost. I mean,

I feel weird saying that because I remember that era well, but anyway, they've become

James Bond car. Yeah, they've become when it was new. But I think this is good. And weirdly,

I don't, I think this, the Z3 looks of its time in a good way. I actually think this looks weirdly

modern. I agree. Yeah. Well, I guess it's that kind of like, maybe it's our, the generation we

grew up in, but this is a very much a naughty car. Yeah. Looking quite fresh for 2003 still. Yeah.

But yeah, I think it has that kind of like, you know, Z3 is very much a 90s car. You can see

very much. This looks like it's definitely from the latter decade. Having a look at its recent

MOT result, which it did not pass. It has some issues. Battery insecure. You could sort that out

fine. Rear tire. That's fine. Just needs a new tire. Service brake. So yeah, the handbrake.

Oh, it's the handbrake. Yeah, service brake. Yeah. And some advisories.

Extensive. However, you know, they said if you want a little project, this is, I think, the most

fun car of the whole list that ticks the boxes. I can feel, do I feel bad putting it forward?

Is the car that I want just because it needs some work done? He said he wanted to do it.

Yeah, go on. You sold me then. MGTF. That's my choice. Well, I'll contrast that massively with my

C-Class, my Avant-Garde SE. Are you sure? Because I think if this was my money, I would want the A4.

Oh, yeah, I do like the A4, but I'm just like, it's posh and I could put classic FM on the other one.

And the C-Class Avant-Garde is not. The C-Class Avant-Garde, that looks like it could look

absolutely at home, outside of stately home, as just the general runabout. Let's go topless,

both. Let's put two topless cars. You did say that friends topless friends are the best friends.

Exactly. So that's what we're going to do. You're going A4, I'm going MGTF, and you can vote on

that if you're listening to this on Spotify. So I'll put a vote up. You can choose either Sam's car

or my TF. Or if you think we both did a terrible job, head into the article on the Piston heads

own page. You'll find a link to the topic and you can put some suggestions there. Now, usually I

would say, also, you can go and check out Piston heads auctions for similar cars. We don't tend to

deal in cars that are 1500 quid. So which is the great thing about the classifieds is that, you

know, we've got so many cool things that you can find on there. But if you've got a slightly larger

budget, oh boy, do we have some convertibles for you to choose from much like a very jazzy colored

TVR Griffith 500. Oh, wow. That has a it's an orange and purple

color shift flip flop as I used to call it. I love that. I've always loved the Griffith 500

and that finish. Wow. Those tail lights are different. Yes, they are. Interesting. They've

had LED rear lights put in. Interesting. I actually think they look quite good.

It does look good. It looks like it's done it well. Simpathetically, it's got an

element of like those old GTO GT cars from the early 2000s that were just kind of like

slapped together. Yeah. But but yeah, that is a really, really cool car. That will cost you

more than 1500. The current bid is 1500 pounds, but the auction has literally just started.

So yeah, by the time you see this, it'll be, I think actually by the time this podcast goes

out, you will have literally less than 24 hours to go and place a bid on it. So I just saw another

picture of it there. And the color goes from that really goes to a deep purple, isn't it?

That's stunning. Absolutely beautiful.

A lot of convertible chats at the moment. And one of the reasons why is because we are in the

middle of a heat wave in the UK at the moment. And don't we know it in this room? This podcast

studio. I mean, when I was on the way in this morning, I was at air conditioned train. I was

like, it's not as bad as people are saying it is inside the lovely air conditioned office.

Not as bad as people are saying it is. This podcast room does not have air con. We have

lights on and it is roasting. We don't even have an air ventilation system. We don't have an air,

not like a dacia. No. Yes, this is not a dacia duster spec room. It is even more basic. But

little red GTO has found a story from the BBC and they've linked to it. And it's about how

open top convertible sales are on the decline. So they say this BBC news article is reporting

that over the past 20 years, sales of new open tops have fallen by nearly 90% from 109,000 on

171 in 2005 to just 11,484 last year. And those numbers come from the Society of Motor Manufacturers

and Traders or SMMT as everybody knows it as. So it suggests that it's the most mostly people

are wanting to spend their money on SUVs. And so because of the development cost of

doing that, most companies are just going, well, an SUV, you can't really, aside from a

Range Rover, a Vogue and a T-Roll, you're not really getting a convertible SUV. So they're

just going, well, put the money into the SUV. You're not going to get a convertible version

of that. Unlike, say, the A4 that you just found where you could, where they would go,

yeah, we can do that. A5, they then went and made that as a coupé. So it just doesn't make

as much sense to develop those convertibles. It does point out, though, that

convertibles have before vanished and then made a resurgence. So it's not all lost, although it

says that the hope of more convertibles coming could potentially be with Chinese manufacturers,

because they're able to just build anything and make it work and not spend a huge amount of money

on it. AI the roof off. Exactly. Yes. Can you do that for cars in real life? I don't know.

But you wouldn't put it if anyone was going to take a punt on a massive SUV that's got a convertible

roof. It's Chinese manufacturers because they're an electric one in particular. Yeah, absolutely.

So obviously, there's a lot of love for comments on this topic. Neil Nouvara, that's N-V-A-U-A.

I'm terribly sorry if that is your last name. I don't know how to pronounce it. They says,

I was just thinking about this. I was just thinking about this week, how I rarely see

your notice convertibles these days. There was a time when in addition to sports and

grand tours, every manufacturer was making convertibles of even the most humdrum cars.

Nissan, Micro, Ford Focus, Renault, McGahn, Peugeot 206, and they've all died off spectacularly.

Arnold Cunningham says, we've had a convertible in the family for the last 20 years,

and that doesn't include my Ultima Spider I've had since 1997. That's cool. Yeah. I just put

that in there because I wanted to highlight someone having an Ultima Spider. That's so cool. Yeah.

Which is dead cool. Chubby Ross says, the climate is a serious problem these days for

convertibles. When I first bought a drop top around 15 years ago, I could use it throughout.

Summer, over the last three to four years, it's just become too hot. Yeah. 25 degrees is perfect,

but the last heat wave we had, it was unbearable sitting in traffic jams with the roof down.

I saw that today on the way in. I was impressed. Someone was actually, they had the roof down.

I was like, wow, I'd be shielding from this. Also shout out the name Chubby Ross. That's

a good name. That is a good name. And I did want to point that one out for a similar reason of where

we've just done a sixth of the best of convertibles that you can, you can buy for various different

budgets. And it's had a lot of people going, I don't want to put the top down in this weather

because it is way too hot. Yeah. And, you know, we're famous for complaining about everything

in the UK. But the thing is, is the sun beating down on your head in a drop top. You know, when

we were at, did I tell you we were at Le Mans a couple of weeks ago, just, just in case you didn't

know, when we were there, I was looking out from admittedly the lovely air conditioned and covered

hospitality at Toyota looking out into the crowds and I was like, I feel so sorry for people out

there because it was horrifically hot. And if you didn't have your sun cream on, that would have been

a real problem. So I get it. I'm not a super convertible lover. The reason being is I find

the chassis is more often than not compromised to a point where I'm just like, I just don't like

that judder, especially because the roads are so bad. If you go over a slightly uneven road and you

get that, that kind of scuttle rattle as well. Scuttle shape. I just always imagine it's like

having a, a chassis made of new guard. It's just twisting and feeling horribly loose. But also

because I'm an absolute wimp and when it's raining, I don't want to get wet. When it's cold, I'm fine.

I get way too cold. And when it's too hot, I just go, I'm going to burn. Yeah. I actually like

convertibles. As you know, I've got, I've sold a box selling my MX-5 for a box though and I enjoy

them. But I do agree when they're a bigger car, that's had the roof chopped off, especially older

ones. They were a bit rattly. I agree with Chubby Ross because in total honesty, you know, I've done

driving, I've done drop top driving on the continent lots, even in the US as well. And the

good thing about those countries is often they're a little bit less humid and that the heat here

just sticks to you. And also there's a little bit less traffic in some of the place, not everywhere

obviously. In the, on an American highway in California, you know, it could be hotter than it

is over here, but firstly the climate's a bit drier, the humidity's down. And the traffic's

flowing because they've got bigger longer motorways and highways. Sometimes I know LA famously bad

for traffic, but there are just those opportunities. Whereas if you live in the southeast of England,

you're almost always going to be at least in a bit of traffic. So you do find yourself going

quite slow, therefore the heat really affects you. So I get it. I have to admit those that the UK,

you know, before, I think, I think, you know, it is a sign of the changing weather because the UK

before, we were the biggest convertible market in Europe market. Absolutely. I think, and the

Europeans thought we were bonkers because they were like, but it rains a lot. But the point was,

was that when it was sunny and hot here, it was nice to have dropped nothing. And I have to admit,

I found even as a person who loves convertibles, I have been leaving the roof up quite a lot on

my cars just because the heat is just too much now. So I get it. I do get it. Even if they were

convertibles on sale, the amount of times you put the roof down in the summer will be fewer. In fact,

I think the time I put them down more is autumn and spring. Yeah, I didn't really wasn't expecting

this to get onto a climate chat. And I was, you know, don't take this as a us going all into

the climate change debate or anything like that. But I mean, I've just taken the last month, for

instance, where we've had at least two heat waves, which have been scorchio. And then in between

that it's been raining and cold, not convertible friendly, not convertible friendly. And I think

that, you know, another thing to bear in mind is it's definitely a British way of going about things

because so my, my wife has grown up in Southeast Asia, famously hot area of the world, famously

humid area of the world. Nobody drives convertibles because it's unbearably hot, similar, you know,

even, even the weather that we have now is, is, is similar to what you would get out there with

humidity and intensity of heat. And so they just, they never have it. And they go like, why would

you do it? Because it's, it's really uncomfortable. And it's the same for a lot of other places as

well. The only other part of the world that I think that really takes the piss out of us for

struggling with the heat is people from Florida. It seems to be a Floridian thing of where they

just go, Oh, these breads are always complaining about the heat, you know, we get, and then they

will reference a number that doesn't make sense to anybody else in the world. You know, it's like,

Oh, it's, it's, it's 8,000 drums of heat over here compared to, okay, thanks.

Is the humidity as high there? Because I think that's our key thing, right? Because the southern

state, so I've been in the southern states in summer, driving convertibles, and it's just a

dry heat. It's just much more bearable. Precisely. Yeah. Even though it's technically hotter,

actually, in some cases, it just doesn't stick to you in the same way. And the key and very

nerdy point to add to that. And it's also an issue why engine struggle to keep cool, I think,

correct me if I'm wrong on this, is because of the humidity, it's much harder for the

heat to be carried away because it just sticks to you. So even though the temperature might be

hotter in other places, the heat is carried away more effectively in the dry heat. So you're just

the heat just stuck to you more. Yeah. If I'm honest, I don't really mind there being

fewer convertibles around, so long as the ones that are around are good, because the focus convertible,

which was designed by Pin and Farina, I think, was, I just, they never did anything. I looked at

them and I was just like, you know, they would have done something for somebody, but I just was

like, what's the point? Do you know the ones that was confused me and sorry listeners,

if there's anyone who's got one, I understood why they worked. If you looked at a piece of paper

and you went, this ticks all the boxes that I need to tick. But like, I don't even know if they

did one, but like a focus or an astra of that gen drop top with a diesel. And to be fair,

for my A4, there were plenty of those A4s in diesel with drop top. That's the one where I was like,

okay, that I'm not what's happened there. But because on paper, they've gone, well,

I want to do 70 miles per gallon. I like drop tops. It's in budget. So it ticks all the boxes.

But then you get in it and you're like, it's a diesel convertible.

But I guess, I guess it's because we are master helmsmen. Well, I think we are anyway. And then

maybe we go like, maybe the people just don't mind. You know, I've met a lot of people that just go,

I've got the diesel version of this and it's better than I'm just like, anyway, if you want a drop

top and you don't want to spend a lot of money on it, we've given you two great examples for 1500

quid. But on that note, we will end another episode of the gassing station podcast. Thank you ever so

much for listening. If you like what you listen to, please give us a five star review and maybe

some kind words as well, because it just helps get the gassing station out to more people and we

want to spread car enthusiasm because everyone says it's dying. So we don't believe that for a

second. Get the gas station out and we can all form an alliance against people making cars boring.

Sam, anything you want to end on? Well, funnily enough, the car I'm driving next for PH will be

the 911 GT3 SC. Very on topic. Very cool. Convertible. We both saw it at the same time with our best mate

Andreas Prowley. So we'll cover that off when we see you next Tuesday.